Dodge Tank: A LitRPG Novel (Crystal Shards Online Book 1)

by Rick Scott

  From: Mom

  Ryan, can you please log out? We need to have a talk. Mike’s coming home.

  -Mom

  My stomach does a little flip flop. Why would she mention Mike? And what does she mean coming home?

  A thousand thoughts go through my mind and none of them good.

  I send Gilly a message next.

  Me: Hey I got to log. My mom needs to talk to me.

  Gilly: Okay! ( :

  I contemplate telling her about the Mike part, but I don’t want to worry her prematurely if it’s nothing.

  Me: I’ll talk to you in a bit.

  Gilly: Come back soon. We got work to do! <3 ^_^/

  For once, even Gilly’s cute emojis do nothing to ease the tension building in my stomach. I log out of Crystal Shards and then out of the system entirely, pulling off my rig.

  When I do, I find Mike standing in my room. My heart jumps in my throat when I see what he has in his hands. Grasped tightly in his clenched fists are the straps of two large duffle bags.

  “Hey,” he says and his voice is uncharacteristically low and calm. “Can you come into the kitchen? I got something I need to tell you and mom.”

  “Um… okay,” I say, but inwardly my stomach is swimming. It can’t be time already. It can’t be!

  I grab Mutt and Jeff as Mike helps me up. We head to the kitchen where mom is already waiting for us, standing in her robe with her arms folded across her chest. She gives me a weak smile as I hobble next to her and then she wraps an arm around my waist as Mike takes center stage in the middle of the kitchen and drops his duffle bags to the floor.

  “I’m going to be moving out for a while,” Mike says. “I found a new job down in the hub. The hours are pretty crazy so I’ve found a place that I can stay that’ll be close by. It’s short term, but the work’s pretty intensive, so I probably won’t have much opportunity to make contact.”

  My mom’s face is nonplussed. Like this is something she’s been expecting. Or perhaps dreading. “And you’re going tonight?”

  Mike’s cheeks puff as he blows out a sigh. “Yup.”

  “How long?” she asks. “You said for a while. How long will this go on for?”

  He shrugs. “Could be about a month, I don’t know.”

  This was it. He was going to the surface.

  I look at my finances and a cavern opens up inside me.

  You have…. 1,657,230 Credits.

  Two million too short. I’ve failed. If I just had a bit more time. “Mike… do you really have to go right now?”

  He looks at me and frowns. “Yeah.”

  My world crumbles around me.

  I’m too late…

  Mom has a sadness in her eyes like I’ve never seen before. They actually start to well and I see tears. Then it dawns on me. Does she know as well? Does she perhaps know that Mike is about to risk his life to try and save her somehow? Has she known the whole time?

  “Mike,” I say. “We’re all doing stuff to afford mom’s operation. And I know you’re doing your part too, but, I found a way to afford it.”

  “Well you just keep working at it, man,” he says. “I’ll see you in a month.”

  He’s blowing me off? “Mike!”

  “It’s okay, Ryan,” Mom says. “He needs to go.”

  No...I can’t let this happen. “I will have the money, Mike. Three mil plus! Like in a couple of days! I swear! I got almost half of it already! I’m just short right now!”

  “Yeah, right,” he scoffs shaking his head. “Look, whatever you’re doing to make money, Ryan. Just save it for you and mom.”

  I want to explode. I want to throw off the façade and prove to him I can do it. “I’m serious, Mike! I got this! Over a million! You don’t have to do anything!”

  From my yell, I can see I have his attention now. Curiosity enters his eyes as he searches my face and I wonder if I’ve revealed too much. But then the all too familiar smugness reappears as he smirks. “It doesn’t matter. Like I told you before. You don’t know what money really is.”

  Doesn’t matter? My anguish turns to anger and suddenly I don’t give a crap if he’s about to go kill himself on the surface. “Fine! Go then! Do what you got to do!”

  He grimaces at me and shakes his head. “Just take care of mom.”

  He then hugs my mother for a really long time and I see tears running down her cheeks.

  “You’re going to be fine, ma,” Mike says. “Ryan’s here to look after you. I’ll be back soon. I promise.”

  I choke back the lump in my throat and wipe my eyes as Mike looks back to me.

  “Love you, man,” he says.

  His words tear a hole through my heart. My brother’s never said anything like that to me before. It can mean only one thing. He doesn’t think he’s coming back.

  “Mike…” My voice cracks as tears stab my eyes.

  He collects his duffle bags from the floor and I crash into him. “Please don’t go, Mike! Please!”

  I drop Mutt and Jeff as I cling to him with a sob. I almost don’t even care if they know my secret anymore. But I sink to the floor anyway, no strength left in me to fight. Every plan I’ve had has failed. Every victory I’ve achieved a hollow precursor to defeat.

  My knees hit the tile floor and my brother looks down at me with more confusion than anything else. And then his expression changes. For the first time in forever Mike gives me a genuine smile. “I don’t know if I’ll ever understand you, Ryan. But you’ve been a good brother. Thank you.”

  That causes my heart to ache even more. I know for sure he’s never coming back now.

  And it’s all my fault.

  I wasn’t fast enough.

  This was one hit I just couldn’t dodge.

  “Ryan…?” My mother joins me on the floor and wraps her arms around me from behind. “…what’s gotten into you? Are you okay?”

  I don’t answer her as my sobs continued and my brother heads for the door.

  He looks back at me one more time and I can see tears glistening in his eyes.

  Then he opens the hatch and leaves our lives forever.

  * * *

  I’m back in my room, numb. I spend over an hour just staring at the wall, my thoughts unable to move forwards or back. Backwards is an exercise in reliving my mistakes and forward is to contemplate the unthinkable. In a few days, I’ll have the money I need. My mom will be cured. But my brother would already be gone.

  “What’s the point of it all?” I say bitterly. “What’s the point of any of this?”

  I hear a faint knock on my door frame. “Can I come in, sweetie?”

  “Sure mom,” I say and she pushes the shower curtain aside as she enters my room.

  She looks more drained than usual and I can tell she’s been crying too. She sits on the floor so that we’re at eye level and she reaches over to take my hand. “You shouldn’t worry about your brother, okay? He’s a tough guy. He can take care of himself.”

  “Yeah,” I say. “I guess…”

  Maybe she’s right. Maybe Mike can go up against this Builder or whatever it is and come back alive. But even he didn’t seem to think so.

  “It’s you I’m worried about,” mom says.

  “Me?”

  She smiles sadly. “All you do is worry about us, Ryan. But it’s not your job to save us. Do you understand?”

  I’m not sure if I do. “Mom, you need to get your operation.”

  “And I will,” she says and then she shrugs with a smile. “Or maybe I won’t.”

  “What?” I can’t be hearing this. “Mom, how can you say that?”

  “Because it’s the truth. It’ll either happen or it won’t. And I’m fine with that. What I’m not fine with, is you wasting your life trying to protect us. Mike and I are adults. We can take care of ourselves.”

  Ugh, not the adult card again! “Mom, look, you don’t understand…Mike’s going to—”

  “To do what Mike needs to do,” she cuts me off. �
��Don’t worry. I’ve already given him this talk as well. Ryan you’ve been the best son a mother could wish for and a wonderful brother as well. But there’s more to life than just being a son and brother. There are other people out there for you to live for.”

  “Huh?”

  “People like Gilly,” she says. “It would mean more to me, for you to make a million friends than a million credits. You have so much to offer this world Ryan. Don’t waste your life fighting for me and Mike. Live for your friends as well.”

  Her words leave me confused and perplexed.

  A buzz from my rig draws both our attention. Someone’s just left another message.

  My mom smiles. “I bet that’s her now. Why don’t you go log in and check.”

  * * *

  I hop on my rig after my mom leaves and see not one but five messages from Gilly. Before I can even check any of them, I get a chat request. I answer and her character’s face appears.

  “Hey!” Gilly shouts. “You gotta log in! Like right now!

  She seems anxious and excited, but after what’s just happened I can’t pretend like it even matters anymore. “It’s too late, Gilly.”

  She must see the mournful look on my face, because her brow creases with concern. “What? What do you mean? What’s happened?!”

  “It’s my brother,” I say and then choke a little as I try to get the words out. “He’s gone, Gilly. Gone to do his crazy mission. I just didn’t have the money in time to convince him. Just wasn’t fast enough.”

  Gilly gasps. “Has he left already?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, whatever he’s doing you still got time. Just contact him and tell him to wait.”

  “What?” I don’t understand what she’s talking about. “Gilly, I’m two million short. I can’t make—”

  “You’ll make it, Reece,” she says. “Val Helena just messaged me. The World Bosses are spawning!”

  Chapter 34 Arena Race

  I log in and materialize in Swifttide to see Gilly already waiting for me at the main spawn point.

  “Quick let’s go!” Gilly shoots me a party request and I join.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Teleport to the Nexus,” she says and then fades from existence.

  I follow her and arrive in the same corridor full of portals that Val Helena took me through before. Gilly runs ahead and stops at one labeled World Arena.

  “What’s this place?” I ask.

  Gilly shrugs. “I dunno. It’s where Val Helena said to come.”

  I follow Gilly through the portal and my senses explode when I emerge on the other side. I find myself in the stands of a massive stadium that must have over ten thousand players inside. The air is palpable with the roars and cheers of the crowd as two players go at it inside a fenced off arena at the bottom of the stadium.

  I then see a message appear in the guild chat.

  (RNG) Gilly: Val, we’re here!

  We get invites from Val Helena and the entire guild appears in my party list.

  “Come find us on the mini-map,” Val Helena says through the party chat.

  We make our way through the crowd and I’m amazed by the variety of players I see. There must be gamers from every shard in here. I see the typical fantasy classes from Nasgar that I’m well familiar with, but I also see people in cowboy attire from Wild West, Vampires and Werewolves from Witch World. There are even players from racing games, decked out in leathers and enjoying the show.

  Down in the ring itself the battle is between a guy in high tech military gear wielding a pre-war assault rifle and a black cyberpunk looking dude with a bald head that’s wearing a long black trench coat, mirror shades and firing dual automatic pistols with both hands. They perform a gunplay ballet as they have a shootout at near point blank range, confined by the arena. The army guy does more damage with his more controlled semi-automatic shots, but the cyberpunker’s pistols fire fast and furious and he eventually wins the round.

  The crowd goes wild.

  We finally reach Val Helena down by the edge of the ring. She catches sight of us and looks relieved.

  “Thank goodness you got a hold of him,” she says to Gilly.

  “What’s going on?” I ask.

  Val Helena has to shout over the crowd as they cheer for a barbarian woman who’s now facing the Cyberpunker using only an axe and shield. “The world bosses in each shard are about to spawn.”

  I still can’t believe it. “What happened? I thought we had a month.”

  “I don’t know, but they’re spawning early for some reason.” Val Helena doesn’t look too happy about the situation. And by what she said earlier I can guess why. We’re all still level 75. Do we even stand a chance against Vulnar at this level?

  I almost don’t want to know the answer.

  I look over and see Zeke and the other guild members rooting and cheering for the next match. They at least don’t seem fazed by the challenge that awaits us. But then again, they don’t have as much riding on this, as I do. I still have a brother I need to convince not to go to the surface. And time’s running out. That causes another question. “Why are we here, Val? And what is this place anyway?”

  “It’s the World Arena,” Val Helena says. “It goes active once a month, right before the bosses spawn. It’s where we get that key item I was talking about.”

  I look into the arena where Barbarian girl has won her match and is now getting trounced by a guy in powered armor. “We’ve got to go fight in there?”

  “Thankfully no,” Val Helena says. “Unless you want to. The winner gets a reward similar to defeating a world boss.”

  Holy crap.

  “We just need to collect the key item from the center of the arena when the final match ends.”

  “And when’s that going to be?” Gilly asks.

  I have the same question. As fun as this all seems, I have a brother to stop from getting himself killed. That reminds me to send him a quick message.

  Mike. Don’t go. I’ll have the money in an hour. Please believe me!

  -Ryan

  I hit send and pray it reaches him in time and more so, that it’s a promise I can still keep.

  “The final match should be coming up soon,” Val Helena says. “It’s normally teams of 3 versus 3 that face off in duels, last member standing wins. But no one seems to have been prepared for the arena to go active so soon. Most of the teams only have one or two members and they’re going through each other pretty quick.”

  That’s good news for me.

  The powered armor dude wins the match and then faces off against a guy in a red karate outfit that’s wearing a pair of dark shades, a scarf covering his neck and mouth and armed with nothing but his fists.

  “So are all these people here for the key item?” Gilly asks looking around the packed stadium. “Doesn’t look like we’ll have much of an advantage, if they are.”

  Val Helena shakes her head. “Probably not. Most people don’t even know about it. Or care. They’re all here for the matches and the bets.”

  “Bets?” I say.

  “That’s how the winner earns most of their prize money. From people betting on them.” She lifts her chin toward a holographic billboard that’s cluttered with betting odds, names and credit figures in the hundreds of thousands. I can’t make heads or tails out of it. “I wouldn’t go throwing money at that unless you’re prepared to lose it though.”

  A stray thought crosses my mind that maybe I could doubly money in here. But Val Helena is right. I’m all for taking risks, especially now, but I have no clue what’s going on and I’d rather have something I can at least have some control over if I’m going to take a chance. But maybe I still can. “Can anyone enter this tournament thing?”

  “I think so,” Val Helena says, studying the arena where a werewolf character is fighting a tiny blonde girl with a ridiculously large sword three times her size. The little girl hops and jumps almost comically with the oversized we
apon, avoiding the werewolf’s claws and bites. She then performs an unexpectedly quick overhead strike that takes the werewolf by surprise and chops him down to 20% HP. He’s stunned from the hit and the little girl follows up with a horizontal slash that finishing him off.

  The crowd cheers again.

  I wonder if I can try this. But then I think back to my brawl in the desert and how hard it was to predict those other players’ attacks. And they were a few levels below me too. Then I see something flash on the billboards that makes me forget about entering the ring altogether.

  FINAL MATCH

  Team Maxis

  VS

  Team Aiko

  1. Amanda

  1. Aiko

  2. Rembrandt

  2. Null

  3. Maxis

  3. Null

  “Oh great,” Val Helena says dryly as Aiko appears in the ring. “She’s here.”

  “She’s actually fighting?” Gilly balks at the screen and then at Aiko herself, who’s dressed in her, admittedly, sweet looking prestige gear. “But she’s solo.”

  Val Helena folds her massive arms across her armored chest. “Makes sense. She said she was going to put together a team for Vulnar. Must not have gotten around to it before the bosses popped. She’s probably trying to get a win out of the arena match instead. Which is good news for us, actually. Maybe she won’t try to compete for the claim if she wins this.”

  “Seriously?” I say.

  Val Helena nods. “As much as I hate to say it. But we should probably be rooting for her now.”

  Gilly harrumphs. “I think I’d just rather see her get stomped into the ground.”

  The first match starts with Aiko versus the little girl with the giant sword, Amanda. They both start buffing as a 3 second timer counts down. Amanda uses a move that cause red and orange flames to surround her, some kind of damage increase, I guess. Aiko casts Shadow Copy and Shadow Haste.